The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 766 HERBERT G. McNEIL. Herbert G. McNeil is numbered among the substantial citizens of the Kittitas valley, owning a valuable property near Ellensburg. A pioneer of this section of the state, he is widely and favorably known and all who come in close contact with him are agreed as to his high purpose. Not only has Mr. McNeil attained individual success but through his arduous labors has greatly helped in the upbuilding of his section, particularly along agricultural lines. A native of Minnesota, he was born in Sherburne county, November 15, 1868, and is a son of Luther and Mary E. (Spencer) McNeil, the former a native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, while the latter was born near Valparaiso, Indiana. Early in life they migrated to Minnesota, among the pioneers of which state the father was numbered. He also had the distinction of having been a veteran of the Civil war, serving for three and a half years with Company M, Second Minnesota Cavalry. He participated in a number of important engagements and valiantly upheld the Union cause, putting aside all personal considerations when the call for troops was issued. The parents continued to make their home in Minnesota until 1902, when they came to Ellensburg, where the father lived retired to the time of his demise, in 1910, but the mother survives. Herbert G. McNeil was reared under the parental roof and grew to manhood amid farm surroundings, thus early becoming acquainted with efficient methods in tilling the soil and garnering the crops. In the acquirement of his education he attended public school in his native state and there continued after laying aside his textbooks until 1890, when he made his way to Seattle, Washington, being connected with the 661 engineering department of the Northern Pacific Railroad. In 1897 he decided to try his fortune in the far north and went to the Klondike, where he remained for tire years with one interruption. This was in 1898, when he returned to Kittitas county, where he bought a farm, but shortly thereafter he returned to the north. Interesting as well as exciting were his adventures while in that country and in those five years three trips in particular stand out as memorable when three times he went over the trail from Skagway to Dawson, a distance of six hundred miles. Mr. McNeil hunted, mined and freighted as the opportunity offered, thus improving his fortunes to the best of his ability. In 1902, however, he returned to his Kittitas valley farm. He sold his first place and in 1906 bought one hundred acres three and a half miles south of Ellensburg, which has since remained his home farm. He also has nine hundred acres of range land. Although he gives considerable attention to general farming he makes a specialty of raising cattle, particularly graded and pure blooded shorthorns. and also horses and hogs. He has his land under a good state of cultivation and has made many improvements upon the ranch, including excellent barns and other equipment, as well as building a handsome residence. Everything about the place indicates the progressive methods which he has ever followed and that western spirit of conquest which guides him in all of his actions and which has led him into his present prosperous condition as one of the leading farmers of his neighborhood. On the 2d of July, 1892, Mr. McNeil was united in marriage to bliss Eva G. Buck, of Grays Harbor, Washington, a daughter of John Buck, who was a native of Maine, and became one of the early pioneers of this state. Mr. and Mrs. McNeil have become the parents of five children: Edith, the wife of R. W, Waite, of Ellensburg, by whom she has a daughter; Laura, who married Fred Hanson, a prominent rancher of the Kittitas valley, who is mentioned on other pages of this work; G. H., a farmer of the Kittitas valley, who is married and has one child; Benjamin A., of Ellensburg, who is married and has a daughter; and Doris, fourteen years of age. Mr. McNeil is a wideawake, public-spirited citizen, ever ready to give his support to movements for the public good if he is convinced of their value. He is not a politician in the commonly accepted sense of the word and does not strictly adhere to party, preferring to give his support to the man best qualified for the office in question regardless of his party affiliation. For six years he served as a member of the hoard of county commissioners and did valuable work in that connection. bringing about many improvements which have been of great benefit to the county. For the past four years he has been chairman of the board, his selection for the office indicating the confidence which his fellow- townsmen have in his ability. Fraternally he is a member of the Elks Lodge No. 1102, and has many friends in that organization. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.